2021 Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations

The 2021 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations was the fourth edition of the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (BSAFCON),^[1] the premier beach soccer championship in Africa contested by men's national teams who are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Originally organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) under the title FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier^[2] (informally known as CAF Beach Soccer Championship), in 2015, CAF became organisers and began using the BSAFCON title to which the competition was officially renamed the next year.^[3] Overall, this was the 10th edition of the event.

2021 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations

2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier
Tournament details
Host country	Senegal
City	Saly
Dates	23–29 May
Teams	7 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Senegal (6th title)
Runners-up	Mozambique
Third place	Morocco
Fourth place	Uganda
Tournament statistics
Matches played	14
Goals scored	102 (7.29 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Nelson Manuel (10 goals)
Best player(s)	Nelson Manuel
Best goalkeeper	Al Seyni Ndiaye
← 2018 2022 →

The tournament was due to take place in Jinja, Uganda between 23 and 29 November 2020.^[4][5] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising water levels on the shores of Lake Victoria affecting the host beach, Uganda withdrew from hosting.^[6] Senegal were subsequently chosen as the new hosts,^[7] with the tournament rescheduled to take place from 23 to 29 May 2021,^[8][9] in the city of Saly.^[10]

The event also acted as the qualification route for African teams to the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Russia; the winners and runners-up qualified.

Senegal were the defending champions and successfully defended the title, after defeating Mozambique 4–1 in the final to secure their 6th title.

Qualification

2021 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations qualification

Tournament details
Dates	26 March – 10 April 2021
Teams	12 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	4
Goals scored	46 (11.5 per match)
← 2018 2022 →

The 2021 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations qualifying round determined the eight teams that would compete in the final tournament in May 2021.

The fixtures were announced by CAF on 4 March 2021.^[11] The matches were to be played on the weekends of 26–27 March and 9–10 April 2021. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a number of withdrawals.^[12]

Qualification ties were played on a home-and-away, two-legged basis. If the sides were level on aggregate after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still level, the tie proceeded directly to a penalty shoot-out (no extra time played).^[13]

Entrants

Fourteen teams entered the competition. The qualifying matches involved the lowest-ranked twelve entrants. The six winners of the ties qualified for the final tournament, joining two automatic qualifiers – Senegal, the hosts, and Egypt, the highest-ranked entrant based on the results of the previous edition.^[11]

Nigeria, who had previously competed at every edition of the tournament and qualified for the World Cup from the last two championships, were unable to enter this year's tournament because the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had indefinitely barred the national team from competing following the team's "poor outing" at the 2019 World Cup.^[14]

Round	Teams entering round	No. of teams
Qualification	Burundi (=22nd)  Comoros (n/a)  DR Congo (n/a)  Ghana (=22nd)  Ivory Coast (10th)  Libya (7th)  Madagascar (8th)  Morocco (2nd)  Mozambique (15th)  Seychelles (16th)  Tanzania (9th)  Uganda (13th)	12
Final tournament	Egypt (3rd)  Senegal (1st)	2

Note: The numbers in parentheses show the African ranking of the teams at the time of the qualification round (out of 23 nations).^[15]

Matches

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Libya	w/o[16]	Morocco	—	—
Seychelles	w/o[16]	Madagascar	—	—
Comoros	8–17	Mozambique	5–7	3–10
Burundi	9–12	Tanzania	3–8	6–4
Uganda	w/o[16]	Ghana	—	—
DR Congo	w/o[16]	Ivory Coast	—	—

Qualified teams

The following eight teams qualified for the final tournament:^[16]

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance
DR Congo	1st	Debut
Egypt	10th	3rd place (2006, 2011, 2016, 2018)
Morocco	8th	3rd place (2013)
Mozambique	4th	6th place (2009)
Senegal (hosts; title holders)	9th	Champions (2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018)
Seychelles	2nd	8th place (2015)
Tanzania	2nd	7th place (2018)
Uganda	1st	Debut

Draw

The draw to split the eight teams into two groups of four took place at 12:00 EGY (UTC+2) on 29 April 2021 in Cairo, Egypt. It was conducted by CAF Head of Competitions, Khaled Nasser.^[16][17][18]

Initially, two teams were seeded and assigned to the head of the groups: to Group A, as the hosts, Senegal, and to Group B, as team ranked highest in the previous edition of the championship, Egypt. The other six teams were placed in a single pot. As each was drawn out, the placement of the teams alternated back and forth between Groups A and B.^[16][17]

Venue

Saly

Location of Saly in Senegal

One venue was used to host all matches in the city of Saly.^[10] The stadium was purpose-built; it was scheduled to be constructed between 11 and 17 May. It had a capacity of 1000, however, 500 was the maximum capacity in order to accommodate social distancing measures regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.^[19]

Squads

Main article: 2021 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations squads

Each squad contained up to 15 players.^[20]

Group stage

The match schedule was originally released on 8 May.^[21] The programme was revised on 20 May.^[22]

Each team earns three points for a win in regulation time, two points for a win in extra time, one point for a win in a penalty shoot-out, and no points for a defeat. The top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals.^[13]

All times are local, GMT (UTC±0).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Senegal (H)	2	2	0	0	0	8	2	+6	6	Knockout stage
2	Uganda	2	1	0	0	1	5	8	−3	3
3	Tanzania	2	0	0	0	2	4	7	−3	0	5th place play-off
4	DR Congo[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

Source: CAF
(H) Host
Notes:

1. DR Congo's withdrawal was announced on 20 May; the reasons for which were undisclosed.^[22]

23 May 2021

17:30

Senegal	Cancelled	DR Congo

23 May 2021

17:30

Uganda	1–5	Senegal
Kawawulo	Report	Fall Mendy Diatta

---

24 May 2021

16:15

Tanzania	3–4	Uganda
Jaruph Stephano	Report	Kawakulo Byaruhanga Wasswa

---

25 May 2021

15:00

DR Congo	Cancelled	Tanzania

---

26 May 2021

16:15

DR Congo	Cancelled	Uganda

26 May 2021

17:30

Senegal	3–1	Tanzania
Sylla Fall	Report	Stephano

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	W+	WP	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Mozambique	3	3	0	0	0	16	9	+7	9	Knockout stage
2	Morocco	3	2	0	0	1	10	6	+4	6
3	Egypt	3	1	0	0	2	20	13	+7	3	5th place play-off
4	Seychelles	3	0	0	0	3	6	24	−18	0

Source: CAF

23 May 2021

15:00

Egypt	5–7	Mozambique
H. Paulo A. Elshahat	Report	Manuel Rachide Fadil

23 May 2021

16:15

Morocco	5–1	Seychelles
Kerroum El Hadaoui Aboutalbi El Mahrouk Ghannam	Report	Bamboche

---

24 May 2021

17:30

Mozambique	7–3	Seychelles
Manuel Yuran Rachide	Report	Bamboche Autre Amade

---

25 May 2021

16:15

Seychelles	2–12	Egypt
Bamboche Gift	Report	A. Elshahat Zezo H. Paulo H. Costa Mohamed Elshaffy Eslam

25 May 2021

17:30

Mozambique	2–1	Morocco
Manuel Rachide	Report	El Ouariry

---

26 May 2021

16:15

Egypt	3–4	Morocco
H. Paulo Hassan. M A. Elshahat	Report	Aboutalbi El Hadaoui Ghannam

5th place play-off

The teams finishing in third place in the groups are knocked out of title-winning contention, receding to play in a consolation match to determine 5th and 6th place in the final standings.

28 May 2021

15:00

Tanzania	2–4	Egypt
Said Kashiru Ismail Gambo	Report	Eslam H. Paulo A. Nasser

Knockout stage

The group winners and runners-up progress to the knockout stage to continue to compete for the title. 27 May was allocated as a rest day.

	Semi-finals				Final
	28 May
	Senegal	3
					29 May
	Morocco	2
					Senegal	4
	28 May
					Mozambique	1
	Mozambique	6
	Uganda	3
					Third place play-off
					29 May
					Morocco	5
					Uganda	3

Semi finals

Winners qualify for the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

28 May 2021

16:15

Senegal	3–2	Morocco
Fall Diatta Mendy	Report	Aboutalbi Iazal

28 May 2021

17:30

Mozambique	6–3	Uganda
Rachide Manuel	Report	Lukooya Wasswa Lule

Third place play-off

29 May 2021

16:15

Morocco	5–3	Uganda
Aboutalbi El Hadaoui Abada	Report	Wasswa Lukooya

Final

29 May 2021

17:30

Senegal	4–1	Mozambique
Mendy Diatta Boye	Report	Dez

Awards

Winners trophy

2021 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations champions
Senegal Sixth title

Individual awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:^[23]

Best player
Nelson Manuel
Top scorer
Nelson Manuel
10 goals
Best goalkeeper
Al Seyni Ndiaye

Goalscorers

There were 102 goals scored in 14 matches, for an average of 7.29 goals per match.

10 goals

• Nelson Manuel

9 goals

• Hossam "Paulo" Hassan
• Rachide Sefo Smith

6 goals

• Rabi Aboutalbi

5 goals

• Raoul Mendy

4 goals

• Emmanuel Alex Wasswa
• Babacar Fall
• Ahmed Elshahat
• Nassim El Hadaoui

3 goals

• Isma Kawawulo
• Ninou Diatta
• Ronny Bamboche

2 goals

• Baker Lukooya
• Mamadou Sylla
• Jaruph Rajab Juma
• Stephano Walles Mapunda
• Haitham Mahsoub
• Mohamed Hassan
• Abdelrahman Hassan
• Eslam Salama
• Yuran Jose Malate
• Driss Ghannam

1 goal

• Rica Byaruhanga
• Paul Lule
• Pope Boye
• Kashiru Salumu Said
• Ismail Gambo
• Abdelaziz Abdelaziz
• Ahmed Fayed
• Hassane Hussein
• Fadil Ainadine
• Ramossete Cumbe
• Yassine Kerroum
• Kamal El Mahrouk
• Ismail El Ouariry
• Sami Iazal
• Yassir Abada
• Lorddy Autre
• Terence Amade
• Robinson Gift

Final standings

Qualified for the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

Rank	Team
	Senegal
	Mozambique
	Morocco
4	Uganda
5	Egypt
6	Tanzania
7	Seychelles

Qualified teams for FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

The following two teams from CAF qualify for the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Team	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup1 only FIFA era (since 2005)
Senegal	28 May 2021	7 (2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Mozambique	28 May 2021	0 (Debut)

¹ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.